Bilingual Poetry Reading - Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here!

In partnership with the Iraqi Society of Oregon and Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here! the Milwaukie Poetry Committee and the Ledding Library are hosting a bilingual poetry reading in Arabic and English.

Arabic and English speaking presenters will read the poems, each poem will be presented in both languages. There will be 12 poems read. Six English ones with an Arabic translation and six Arabic ones with an English translation. The featured readers in English are Judith Arcana, David Filer, Tom Hogan, Annie Lighthart, Willa Schneberg and Emmett Wheatfall. The event is hosted by Dr. Bahar Butti and Tom Hogan on Zoom. Questions and discussion will follow. Email Tom Hogan at tomhogan2@comcast.net to register. 

These readings are part of the response to the March 5th, 2007 car bombing of Al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad, the ancient booksellers street. The car bomb was an attack on life and on the property, 30 people were killed and 100 wounded, but it was, as well, an attack on culture and on the free expression of ideas. Following this attack, the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here! The coalition was begun by Beau Beausoleil, a poet, and bookseller in San Francisco, and has grown over the years to include over 600 works of art and an anthology of writings by poets, journalist, and novelists. These works are exhibited around the world and contribute to conversations and the creation of connections, in support of the Iraqi people. Portland is now the home to over 2,000 Iraqi refugees who have fled the ravages of war.